Detroit show: Toyota Supra heads to Motown
BY RON HAMMERTON | 31st Oct 2018
IN NEWS that should surprise nobody, Toyota has confirmed a Detroit motor show launch date in January for its much-anticipated, born-again Toyota Supra.
In announcing the date, Toyota released a teaser image of a view of the bonnet through the windscreen, revealing precious little except what appears to be two little vents on either side of the hood.
The company’s North American unit also announced that the first production Supra – a “one of a kind” – would be auctioned for charity.
The Detroit event is where it all started for the new Supra in 2014 when Toyota showed its FT-1 concept car – the first firm signal that its big six-cylinder sports coupe was making a comeback for a fifth generation
We have already seen the Supra in prototype form on a number of occasions, including at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year.
The red, white and black camouflage will come off on January 14, revealing the final details of the two-door coupe that, under the skin, has mechanicals shared with BMW’s new Z4.
While the Z4 was outed in full at the recent Paris motor show, the Supra is taking the back seat with its delayed launch.
The Toyota version will be rolled out to global markets through 2019, with Australia in line to get Supra in the third quarter.
The Supra will be powered by a BMW-sourced turbocharged inline six-cylinder petrol engine “with more than 220kW and 450Nm”.
The drop-top Z4 gets a 250kW/500Nm version of that engine, along with its own 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder in two states of tune.
Both cars will be built in Austria by contract producer Magna Steyr.
